Collapsible form.



P. ZUCGO. coLLAPsIBLB FORM. APPLICATION FILED MAY 11, 1907.

` 980,389. Patented Ja11.3, 1911.

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` 3% .Z/ @MM A ORN EY HEERE' zUcco, 0E NEW YORK, N. Y.

coLLnPsIBLE roma.

Specification of Letters Patent Patented Jan. 3, 1911.

Application led May 1 1, 1967. Serial No. 373,115.

` have invented certain new and useful Im- 'provements in Collapsible Forms, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to collapsible forms, and the means by which said forms may be employed for the building of reinforced but otherwise unsupported concrete floors and the like.

It consists in the combination of parts, and in detailsof construction which will be more fully explained by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of my device. Fig. 2 is a modification. Fig. 3 is a detail. I y Various arrangements of false work, and similar devices have been employed for constructin concrete floors where supporting metal I- eams form a portion of the structure, for arches of sewers, andlike work.

It is the object of my invention to provide 4a cheap and ready means for constructing floors and like surfaces over considerable areas where no steel beams or equivalent supports may be had, and to so construct the forms used that they may be rapidly re moved after one section has been constructed, and employed for other sections without going to the expense of the great amount of material necessary to finish the Whole' structure at once. y

In carrying out my invention, I rst employ horizontally disposed planks 2 which are placed upon posts or `supports 1, resting upon the flooror surface below and having such length as to support the planks 2 at the proper height for 'the proposed Structure. These planks are laid, and the structure conpleted in the following fashion: One of the planks and its supports being secured, an intermediate distance-piece of any descrip,-4

V tion, is placed between. this and the next plank so as to temporarily maintain a proper distance apa-rt.

My collapsible forms may be made in'two or more sections 3 which 'are preferably connected with a transverse top section 4. The

side'sections 3 are notched or formed to engage with the edges of the plates or planks 2, such notches being indicated at 5, and in' order to maintain .these parts in engagement. to prevent their slipping off. the edges of the planks, intermediate struts of various Aforms may be used, such as shown at 7, where the braces are rigid bars, orthey may bein the form ofturn-buckles, or equivalent devices as at 6; the object being in any event to maintain these' parts in -proper relation with their supports and plates 2. These sections 3 and 4 are then covered 'with boards, or coverings as shown at 8 and 9; the side portions of the coverings 8 restingagainst the sides 3, and the top portion 9 resting upon theupper part; there being a set of the supports 3 and 4 at each endof the sections s'o that a temporary rough arch is formed. The next contiguous length of said arch is formed in like manner until the distance over which the structure isto extend, has been covered.

In some cases I may use wooden sides as 8, and the top 9 may be made of sheet metal, and it is also competent to make the entire portion, r'epresented by 8 and 9, of sheet metal, the edgesbeing turned to form olfsets as at '10, so that the shoulders thus formed may rest upon the plates or planks 2 in the same manner as previously. described..

The structure is thus built up in lengths until it is entirely completed to cover the desired surface, and thus far consists only of a temporary false work.

The object in offsetting the lower ends as at 5, is to insure the engagement of the supports with the plates 2; because in the work of placing the concrete, the workman must pass over all this portion, and it is necessary that it be stiff enough to allow' such passage before Athe concrete is placed. As soon as this false work has been erected, the concrete .y

is filled in to form thestructure. as shown in the figures, and after setting for a short time, the portions forming the arches between the'concrete beams, may be removed, and used again at. a point farther along, but the; plates 2 and the supporting stanchions l will not `be removed until the material has had suflicient time to set, so that it will be entirely self-supporting.

In building a structure of this description, as soon as two or three of the sections of false Work have been erected, thefconcrete may be placed upon them, and by the time a few sections have beencompleted those first iinished Will be set sufliciently to allow l the collapsible forms to be removed, and placed farther along in the work which is the great point f economy claimed in this construction. i

If metal sheets are employed to form the covering said sheets may be bent as pre` viously described, having the offset or shouldered ends for support, andthe sheets may have supplemental narrow strips 9a secured in any suitable. manner to their alternate ends insuch a manner that one of said sheets being in place, with its strip projecting, the end of the nextportion of the form may be slipped over this strip which thus forms a support for it, and so on to the length of the required structure. y

It will be understood that the concrete which forms the permanent structure may i be reinforced by the introduction of rods.

Wires, plates, strips, or any desired form of metallic reinforce;

such reinforce being illustrated in Fig. 2.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is In an apparatus for forming concrete' arches, an interdependent structure capable of indefinite extension, said structure 1ncluding parallel spaced planks. independent posts upon which the planks rest, and means connecting the adjacentends of arch sections in the direction of their length.

PIERRE zUCeo.

Vitnesses HELEN B. YOUNKIN, R. H. BURNHAM. 

